Finding of Emergency
The Department of Commerce finds that an emergency exists and that adoption of a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of public health, safety, welfare and the environment.
The facts constituting the emergency are as follows. Under ss. 101.09, 101.142 and101.144, Stats., the Department protects public health, safety, welfare and the environment by promulgating rules for and administering the regulation of petroleum product storage tank systems and the storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids. The purpose of the regulatory effort is to guarantee that storage tank systems and their contents are managed in a manner that is protective of life safety and the environment.
On December 22, 1998, a ten-year upgrade deadline comes to an end, and all tank systems falling under the United States Environmental Protection Agency's rules are required to have been upgraded to comply with new and environmentally protective construction standards. After the final compliance date, the Department and its contracted agents will conduct inspections to guarantee that tank systems which are not in compliance have been shut down in accordance with state and federal rules. In those instances where owners or operators have not complied with the upgrade or shutdown requirements, immediate action must be taken to either prevent the tank systems from continuing to be used or prevent the delivery of additional petroleum product to the systems.
The shut down of noncomplying tank systems is a core environmental and financial issue. The tank systems that are not in compliance pose a continuing high-risk threat to the environment, and delay in action will continue an unnecessary environmental hazard. Additionally, new releases from these non-upgraded tank systems will add to the financial burden of the PECFA program, which is significantly over-subscribed. The rule included with this order is in response to environmental issues associated with non-upgraded tank systems.
Publication Date:
December 11, 1998
Effective Date:
December 11, 1998
Expiration Date:
May 10, 1999
Hearing Date:
March 3, 1999
Extension Through:
September 6, 1999
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Commerce & Natural Resources
(Petroleum Environmental Cleanup Fund Interagency Responsibilities, Ch. Comm 46)
Rules adopted revising ch. Comm 46, relating to the Petroleum Environmental Cleanup Fund Interagency Responsibilities.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Commerce finds that an emergency exists and that adoption of the rule included in this order is necessary for the immediate preservation of public health, safety, and welfare.
The facts constituting the emergency are as follows. Under sections 101.143 and 101.144, Wisconsin Statutes, the Department protects public health, safety, and welfare by promulgating rules for and administering the Petroleum Environmental Cleanup Fund (PECFA Fund). The purpose of the fund is to reimburse property owners for eligible costs incurred because of a petroleum product discharge from a storage system or home oil tank system. In administering this fund, the Department has relied upon a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Natural Resources for classifying contaminated sites, disbursing funds, and addressing other statements of policy that affect the two Departments.
On September 17, 1998, the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules adopted a motion pursuant to s. 227.26(2)(b), Stats., that directed the Department and the Department of Natural Resources to jointly adopt the above portions of the Memorandum of Understanding and related policy issues as an Emergency Rule. An emergency rule in response to that directive was then adopted by the two Departments and became effective on January 1, 1999. Subsequently, further improvements for jointly administering the PECFA fund were developed that were consistent with the JCRAR directive, and were adopted by the two Departments in an emergency rule which replaced the initial emergency rule. That second emergency rule became effective on February 23, 1999. Now, significant additional changes have again been developed, which are also consistent with the JCRAR directive.
Chapter Comm 46 defines “high priority site,” “medium priority site, ” and “low priority site,” and provides that the Department of Natural Resources has authority for high priority sites and that the Department of Commerce has authority for low and medium priority sites. The rule requires transfer of authority for sites with petroleum contamination in the groundwater below the enforcement standard in ch. NR 140 from the Department of Natural Resources to the Department of Commerce. The rule also establishes procedures for transferring sites from one agency to the other when information relevant to the site classification becomes available.
Chapter Comm 46 requires the two agencies to work cooperatively to develop the following:
1. A system of joint decision-making for the selection of remedial bids and the setting of remediation targets for sites which are competitively bid or bundled with another site or sites.
2. An agreed-upon methodology for determining if there is evidence of an expanding plume and the actions to take if the data provided through the site investigation is not adequate.
3. A process for taking into account the impact of error of measurement, repeatability of results and statistical significance, when determining whether a site is above or below the enforcement standard or any other contaminant level or target.
4. A system for electronically tracking the achievement of remediation targets.
5. A reconciled list of sites in remediation.
Publication Date:
July 10, 1999
Effective Date:
July 10, 1999
Expiration Date:
December 7, 1999
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT (2)
Commerce
(Financial Resources for Communities,
Chs. Comm 105 to 128)
1. Rules adopted revising ch. Comm 113, relating to the annual allocation of volume cap on tax-exempt private activity bonds.
Finding of Emergency & Rule Analysis
The Department of Commerce finds that an emergency exists and that the adoption of a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of public health, safety and welfare.
Several areas in the State of Wisconsin have recently experienced severe economic distress due to large plant closings which have put hundreds of Wisconsin residents out of work. As a result of two large paper mills being shut down a year ago, 1997 Wisconsin Act 237 created s. 560.147, Stats., authorizing the Rapid Response Fund within the Wisconsin Development Fund. The fund is part of the Rapid Response Initiative, which assists areas affected by these and future closings. Commerce is now proposing as part of this initiative a Rapid Response Set Aside within the volume cap allocation process which will enable businesses in these distressed areas to obtain the financing they need to make the necessary capital investments to create and retain jobs. Several projects are pending in that need this change in order to move forward with their plans. Allocation of volume cap is in highest demand in the spring and summer due to the construction cycle. The Rapid Response set-aside must be in place as soon as possible in order for projects to receive allocation and begin construction as soon as possible. Jobs cannot be created or retained until projects go forward.
Publication Date:
February 17, 1999
Effective Date:
February 17, 1999
Expiration Date:
July 17, 1999
Hearing Date:
April 12, 1999
Extension Through:
September 14, 1999
2. Rules adopted creating ch. Comm 112, relating to the Wisconsin Development Zone Program.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Commerce finds that an emergency exists and that the adoption of a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of public health, safety and welfare.
Pursuant to ss. 560.70 to 560.797, Stats., the Department of Commerce is responsible for administering Wisconsin Development Zone Program. These rules are being adopted to incorporate in the administrative code the recent amendments contained in 1997 Wis. Act 27 that entirely changed the eligibility and the criteria for certified development zone businesses and the process for the verification and the claiming of tax credits. Section 560.785, Stats., directs the Department of Commerce to develop rules and exceptions to those rules concerning the eligibility for tax benefits. After a review and evaluation of all the certified businesses and their projects a number of exceptions have been identified in order to meet the needs of different areas of the state and to fulfill our commitments to businesses that were made prior to this legislation. In order to process claims for tax years beginning on or after January, 1, 1998, these rules must be made available immediately.
Publication Date:
February 25, 1999
Effective Date:
February 25, 1999
Expiration Date:
July 25, 1999
Hearing Date:
May 12, 1999
Extension Through:
September 22, 1999
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Employment Relations Commission
Rules adopted revising ch. ERC 33, Appendix C, relating to the calculation of a minimum qualified economic offer in collective bargaining with professional school district employes.
Finding of Emergency
We find that it is necessary to promulgate the amendment to ch. ERC 33, Appendix C as an emergency rule to preserve the public peace, health, safety and welfare. Without the amendment, the timely and peaceful resolution of collective bargaining disputes in Wisconsin will be endangered.
Publication Date:
June 12, 1999
Effective Date:
June 12, 1999
Expiration Date:
November 9, 1999
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Financial Institutions
(Division of Securities)
Rules adopted creating s. DFI-Sec 2.01(1)(c)6 and (d)6., relating to designating alternative accounting guidelines for the preparation of financial statements for certain governmental issuers of securities.
Finding of Emergency
The Division of Securities of the Department of Financial Institutions for the State of Wisconsin finds that an emergency exists and that rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency follows.
These emergency rules are necessitated by a new accounting guideline relating to disclosures about Year 2000* issues applicable to the preparation of financial statements for governmental issuers of securities as required by Governmental Accounting Standards Board Technical Bulletin 98-1, Disclosures about Year 2000 Issues (“GASB TB 98-1”, or “Guideline”). The existence of this issue and the need for emergency rule treatment to assist governmental issuers was brought to the attention of the Division by representatives of Wisconsin public accounting groups and Wisconsin bond attorneys who recently learned about a Report by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants regarding GASB TB 98-1.
As a result of that Report (and as particularized below) many Wisconsin governmental issuers would have the audit opinions for their financial statements for years ending after October, 1998, qualified with respect to disclosures about Year 2000 issues. Thus beginning in approximately March and April of 1999 and continuing through the accounting period ending 12/31/99, that new accounting Guideline will adversely impact the ability of Wisconsin and other state and local governmental securities issuers to continue to use on an “automatic”/self-executing basis, the existing securities registration exemption in s. 551.22(1)(a) of the Wisconsin Securities Law to offer and sell their debt securities to public investors in Wisconsin.
Over the years and to date, Wisconsin and other state and local governmental securities issuers having “full-GAAP” financial statements (e.g. prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) have been able to sell their debt securities to Wisconsin public investors in reliance on automatic use of the registration exemption in s. 551.22(1)(a), Wis. Stats., without the need for any exemption or other filing with the Division.
GASB TB 98-1 requires footnote disclosure of Year 2000 information regarding a governmental issuer's preparedness in terms of making its systems and equipment Year 2000 compliant. GASB TB 98-1 applies to financial statements dated October 31, 1998, and terminates for financial statements issued for purposes of the accounting period ending December 31, 1999, unless systems and equipment are not Year 2000 compliant as of the balance sheet date. In response to GASB TB 98-1, members of the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) issued a Report under the title “AICPA Illustrative Reporting Guidance on Year 2000 Disclosures Made Under GASB TB 98-1, Issued October 22, 1998.” That Report raised the concern that in light of the unprecedented nature of the Year 2000 issue, the required disclosures will be neither ascertainable by management nor verifiable by auditors. As a result, the AICPA strongly recommended that auditors issue qualified opinions (scope limitations) with respect to such Year 2000 issue disclosures.
Consequently, all Wisconsin and other governmental securities issuers whose financial statements would contain such qualified opinions, would not meet (in the absence of the emergency rules) the “full-GAAP” financial statement requirement for automatic use of the registration exemption in 551.22(1)(a), Wis. Stats. Thus, such issuers would either have to go through a regulatory filing and review procedure with the Division prior to each offering, or would have to restrict the initial offering to securities law provisions that would preclude underwriters from reoffering those securities to investors in the primary and secondary markets.
In the absence of the emergency rules, governmental securities issuers would be adversely affected by the costs of making securities filings with their attendant delays. Also, even though Year 2000 issues equivalently affect private corporate issuers of securities, because there is no counterpart to GASB TB 98-1 within the standards promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board applicable to private corporate securities issuers, the additional costs and filing delays would be singularly borne by governmental securities issuers (if the emergency rules were not adopted).
Finally, having a filing requirement under the Wisconsin Securities Law be triggered for Wisconsin and other state and local governmental securities offerings solely because of an auditor's qualification in an audit report on the Year 2000 issue, would result in added regulatory filing and review processes and procedures under the Wisconsin Securities Law that would not provide any “value added” investor protection benefits.
Therefore, in similar fashion to emergency rule-making action taken by the Division in 1994 and 1996 regarding specific accounting issues which occurred at those times, and for the purpose of alleviating the disruption that would occur in the borrowing/bonding plans of Wisconsin and other state and local governmental issuers that regularly claim exemption status under sec. 551.22(1)(a), Wis. Stats., for the offer and sale of their debt securities in Wisconsin, the Division, in consultation with representatives of Wisconsin accounting groups and Wisconsin bond attorneys, is adopting these emergency rules designating an alternative-to-full-GAAP financial statement requirement (when the governmental issuer's financial statements are full-GAAP) where the auditor's opinion is qualified in accordance with GASB TB 98-1 with respect to disclosures concerning Year 2000 issues. As a result of such emergency rules, those Wisconsin and other state and local governmental securities issuers affected by GASB TB 98-1 will be able to continue to rely on the “automatic” registration exemption under 551.22(1)(a), Wis. Stats., for their securities offerings.
[Because this issue which has been triggered by GASB TB 98-1 has a limited “shelf life” such that no permanent rules relating to it will be needed after December 31, 2000, when action is taken by the Division to promulgate identical permanent rules to become effective upon expiration of the emergency rules, the permanent rules will provide for a December 31, 2000 “sunset” date, after which the permanent rules on the issue will no longer be effective.]
*The Year 2000 problem is the result of shortcomings in electronic data-processing systems and equipment that may adversely affect operations in the year 2000 and beyond. The problem stems from the use within electronic systems and equipment of two-digit storage for calendar years. Affected and uncorrected systems and equipment may be unable to distinguish the year 2000 from the year 1900; as a result, such systems may process inaccurately or stop processing altogether.
Publication Date:
February 25, 1999
Effective Date:
March 1, 1999
Expiration Date:
July 29, 1999
Extension Through:
August 3, 1999
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Professional Geologists, Hydrologists and Soil Scientists
Rules adopted creating chs. GHSS 1 to 5, relating to the registration and regulation of professional geologists, hydrologists and soil scientists.
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
The Examining Board of Geologists, Hydrologists and Soil Scientists finds that an emergency exists and that the attached rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, safety or welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is:
Section 64 of 1997 Wis. Act 300 states that the board is not required to make a finding of emergency. However, the board offers the following information relating to the promulgation of these rules as emergency rules. The new regulation of professional geologists, hydrologists and soil scientists was created in 1997 Wis. Act 300. The Act was published on June 30, 1998; however the Act created an effective date for the new regulation as being the first day of the 6th month beginning after the effective date of this subsection.
Publication Date:
May 15, 1999
Effective Date:
May 15, 1999
Expiration Date:
October 12, 1999
Hearing Date:
June 23, 1999
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT (2)
Health & Family Services
